Cairo Revolt

The Cairo Revolt (late August 1798) was an unsuccessful attempt by the people of Cairo, Egypt to rise up against the rule of the French First Republic during the Egyptian Campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars. The citizens of Cairo took up arms and entered a state of open rebellion, incited by their Sunni religious leaders. The fanatic followers of the militant imams formed an army of 623 troops, and they were willing to fight to the death against the occupying French forces. General Auguste Marmont was sent with 1,223 troops to crush Moinuddin al-Zein's army of rebels on the outskirts of Cairo, and Marmont's army succeeded in repelling attacks by the armed masses of Cairene rebels before engaging in melee with the Mameluke cavalry. Marmont was wounded during the battle, but the French succeeded in quelling the uprising with 314 losses. The leaders of the uprising were publicly executed, their property confiscated, and the people of Cairo made to pay a penalty sum to the French government.